U. of Calgary Sued Over Suspensions for Facebook Group

Submitted by Doug Lederman on June 14, 2010 - 3:00am

Two students at the University of Calgary -- identical twin brothers -- have sued the university for suspending them over a Facebook group they created about a professor, The Calgary Herald[1] reported. The students' group was called "I no longer fear Hell, I took a course with Aruna Mitra," the faculty member whose course they criticized. The papers for the course were examined by an independent reviewer, who determined that the grades -- about which the group was critical -- were within the normal range, but the university still raised grades by one grade each. The university says that remarks made on the page were inaccurate. But the students' suit raises issues of due process and free speech. "I'm happy to fight for what I believe is right. There was an injustice done to us," Steven Pridgen, one of the students, told the Herald. "If a university is supposedly for bringing about free speech and change, especially in humanities and social sciences, that was not done in this situation."